As similar as Gameloft’s upcoming Shadow Guardian might be to Uncharted, let’s not forget that Uncharted stole its platforming from Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia. So who’s to say who’s borrowing from whom? The important thing is that by the end of the month, the App Store will have one incredibly polished 3D platformer with intense shootouts in exotic locations.

Just like in the Uncharted series, you play as a rugged, handsome young adventurer who’s handy with a gun and smart enough to know when to dive for cover. Jason Call is a former war correspondent trying to track down an artifact called the Prima Materia. This artifact is also being sought after by mercenaries, who provide the perfect faceless evildoers to shoot down without feeling guilty about it.

The cover mechanics work very well for an iPhone game. A context-sensitive button will appear when you can take cover, and you can aim, blind-fire, and vault over the wall like in console third-person shooters. The platforming segments we had a bit more trouble with, because you can only jump in certain hotspots, and must locate which walls you’re supposed to climb, instead of being in a wide-open environment.

One thing we’ve noticed about Gameloft games is that they often have a floating arrow that tells you where to go. That’s not present in Shadow Guardian– instead, it’s been replaced with a much more subtle red circle on the ground. It’s possible to get lost without the hand-holding, but it seems to be more authentic when you’re exploring ruins and tombs.

Our first level was a brief tutorial, where Jason has to evade his captors, but the next level set in Egypt seemed to let the player have more freedom. The visuals look quite good, with interesting lighting that glinted off of stone columns and the characters’ skin and clothing. Shadow Guardian uses last year’s Avatar iPhone game engine, but with four times the number of polygons.

Some of the more intriguing levels in the game include India, an underwater temple, and Antarctica, where we hope Jason brought something warmer than a T-shirt to wear. Shadow Guardian hits the App Store later this month.

148Apps takes a look at the recently released $2.99 racer Impulse GP and generally likes it. Praise for the controls, both in their accuracy and in the variety of options. The main downside is the silly AI, which seems over simplistic.

FarmersOnly.com has nothing on this game. With this update you can farm with a friend on local multiplayer. If farming simulators are your thing, and I can see a certain draw, give this a shot when it comes out on August 6th.

Kingdom Clicker, the latest in the auto RPG / clicker-typer genre was released last week. This one comes with a twist — PvP battles.

In Kingdom Clicker the usual clicking is done to gather coins, which are used to buy buildings and power-ups that auto-generate coins. It’s a well worn mechanic and implemented very well here. The graphics are good, the game plays well. But the interesting new thing here is that once a certain size kingdom is built, players can battle other players to attempt to steal part of their bank.

I’ve been playing this for a few days and find myself drawn back to it a few times per day. My only concern with this game is that same for many, I wish the battle were more intuitive — they are basically just a dice roll. That said, it’s a fun game, well done, and worth a try.

The original Mos Speedrun was one of those nearly perfect games that absolutely nailed exactly what it was going for: creating a super tight platformer that was designed for speedruns. The sequel is coming soon, and this new trailer shows what to expect.